Harley Benton is the house brand for stringed instruments, their amplifiers, and harmonicas of Musikhaus Thomann, a large trader for instruments and audio equipment from Bavaria, Germany.
The brand generally targets the budget market, trying to provide higher quality instruments than usually found at the respective price points. For the lower mid-price range (the high end of the price bracket Harley Benton covers), this is achieved by offering features usually reserved for higher-priced instruments, such as torrified (roasted or heat treated) necks, special finishes, or stainless steel frets.
Most Harley Benton products are guitars of various kinds, including electric guitars, acoustic guitars, classical guitars and bass guitars. Outside of its main business of guitars, the Harley Benton line of instruments also includes banjos, mandolins, ukuleles, diatonic harmonicas, electric violins, electric violas, and lap steel guitars. Harley Benton also sells amplifiers, pedals and strings.
Harley Benton guitars are manufactured in around 20 factories in China, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Famous guitar models
- Electric guitars (ST series, TE series, SC series, DC series, Fusion series, HB series)
- Acoustic guitars (CLD series, CLA series, HBO series)
- Classical guitars (CG series, HBO series)
References
- "Thomann Musikhaus: How A Small-Town Upbringing, Relentless Drive, And A Belief That The Customer Is Always Right (even when he's wrong) Propelled Germany-Based Thomann Musik To The Top Of The European Market; And According To Hans Thomann, He's Just Getting Started," The Music Trades, Vol. 157, No. 8, September 2009, pps. 50–57; ISSN 0027-4488 (accessed 24 April 2012) via HighBeam
- Other stringed instruments carried by Thomann, Musikhaus Thomann